


Coming Back

by Midnight0505



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 08:37:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16850761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnight0505/pseuds/Midnight0505
Summary: Tony returns to Earth after the events on Titan.





	Coming Back

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this is my first ever work in English. Hope it's not that bad and all the mistakes are bearable.
> 
> Also posted on wattpad.com

Tony walked out of the ship, breath still heavy. His eyes were red, although there were no marks of tears on his cheeks. He didn't cry. Starks don't cry. He didn't even turn to say a word to the blue alien (Nebula, he reminded himself) who dropped him off on Earth, just started walking slowly through the fields of Wakanda. His wound from when Thanos stabbed him was still hurting, even though Nebula took care of it during the way back. He didn't feel it that much, tho. It's not like he hasn't been stabbed before. Yeah, phisically he's been much worse. But emotionally...

It still hasn't really sunk in, even though houres had passed and dust was still covering shreds of his undersuit. They lost. He lost. He was left alone on the abondoned planet billions miles away from Earth, because everyone else was gone. And it was all his fault. If he just fought harder, if he just didn't let Thanos wound him... Strange wouldn't have to give up the time stone to spare his live. They would all be fine right now. They would be ALIVE. The Guardians, Strange, Peter... Tony bit his lip to hold back a sob at the thought of the boy. He gritted his teeth in frustration. He was supposed to protect the kid. He's sworn, not only to May, but, more importantly, to himself that he'd keep him safe. And he failed. Again.

Caught up in his pain, he almost didn't notice a Wakandan ship landing just a few meters away from him. He snapped his head just as two women in traditonal battle suits stepped out of it and approached him. Supporting him, they led him inside the ship. As they seated him, one of them spoke in thick African accent.

"Welcome back, Tony Stark"

He didn't respond, just stared out of the front window, taking in the breath-taking view outstretched in front of him. Even now, when everyting was damaged from what he assumed was Thanos's attack, it was still amazing.  Wakanda had always intiguied him. Country so small, yet so developed and powerfull, thanks to the enormous amounts of vibranium, which itself was definetly somthing. The small part of him that wasn't an utter mess was thrilled to finally be able to see it all with his own eyes, but it still wasn't enough to change his attitude. Not even a bit.

The ship soon landed in the city in front of what Tony assumed was the King's palace. The Dora Milaje once again helped him to his feet and led the way. After a few minutes of walking the halls of the building, he found himself in what looked like a med bay. He looked around. The room was filled with loads of medical devices he wasn't familiar with, but than again, it was Wakanda, so it didn't surprise him all that much. What got him thinking was how little people there were, concidering what happened just a few hours ago, but he soon figured it was thanks to the tachnology they possesed.

The medics got to him immedietly and laid him on one of the empty beds. They started shouting commends in Wakandan and before he realised, they injected something into his veins and he blacked out.

°•°•°•°•°

Tony snapped his eyes open, feeling a little dizzy. The lights were dimmed, so it didn't hurt to look around. He was lying on a bed in a room with a now shadowed window. It was small, but not claustrophobic, more like cozy. God, why couldn't American hospitals be like that, he thought to himself.

He realised he didn't have any needles in him, which was also relieving. He relaxed a bit and closed his eyes again. It was just like if all his pain was gone. He couldn't even feel the stab wound. Just as he thought about it, he jerked awake. He quickly looked over to his stomach, just to find out that his shirt had been taken off and the wound disappeard. Not even a scar was visible. Tony once again thanked the Wakandan techonology.

It took him a while to remember what had happened. He tried not to think about it, he really tried, but the memories just crept into his mind. It flooded him and soon all he could think about was the burning feeling of the dust covering his hands. His breathing became unsteady and his heart sped up. He saw it all over again. He felt it. This absolute, utter fear in Peter's eyes secounds before it happened. The way the boy leand on him, trying to support his trembling body. The way his grip on his shoulders loosend and disapperad, together with the kid.

He didn't even realise he fell off the bed. He didn't see the door opening. But he did hear the voice. Familiar voice.

"Tony? Tony, oh my God, Tony look at me" he just shook his head, panick still consuming him. "Tony, just breathe with me, alright? In and out, just like that" he felt his hand being grabbed and pressed to someone's chest. He felt a steady heartbeat under his fingers. He heard a calm breathing. It was all so familiar, so... calming. He sighed unconsciously and followed the orders. In and out. In and out. After a few long minutes of just breathing, his vitals seemd to come back to normal. He opened his eyes and saw a pair of blue ones he knew so well.

"Pepper?" he stuttered, his voice much to shaky for his liking. "Oh God, Pep, you're... you're alright"

"I'm fine Tony. I'm fine" she said, running her hand through his hair, as he laid his head in her chest. They stayed like that for a while, just taking in each other presence. Pepper was the first one to break the silence.

"What happend?" She asked softly, not moving even an inch away from him. He took in a shaky breath.

"We've lost." It was the first time he'd said it out loud, and just the sound of it terrified him. He scooted closer to Pepper to prevent another anxiety attack. "It's all my fault" he whispered. "If I... if I'd been more careful they'd all be fine... they wouldn't've... Peter wouldn't've..." he couldn't get himself to finish the sentence, but he didn't have to. She understood what he ment.

"Oh God." She whispered, tightning her arms around him. She knew how Tony felt about the boy, she knew how he cared about him, even if he would deny it every time she brought it up. It didn't change anything, Tony saw and treated the kid like his own son, even if he would never admit it.

She didn't say anything. What was she suppposed to possibly say to the mourning father? So she just stayed there, as close as possible, letting him hide his face in her chest, silently telling him that she's still here for him. It was the least she could do for him.

When he first called her, right before flying off to space, she was furious. He'd promised, he'd sworn that he'd never do that again. That he'd never leave her again. Yet, he did just it. She knew he had to, she knew the world was depending on him, but it still hurt. It hurt so much, not knowing were he was, what he was doing, if he was even alive. So when Bruce called her to let her know Tony was back in Wakanda, she didn't think twice before coming here. She was so relieved, and so angry with him, she didn't even reason how the hell it was Banner who told her. All she could think about was all the words she wanted to shout right into Tony's face. But now, as she saw him, so vulnerable, so broken, she couldn't help but hate herself for even thinking about it.

It took a while for Tony to compose himself. He eventually calmed down and hestitantly pulled away from her. His breath was steady again, but his eyes still hold the same hurt expresion. Pepper sighed and kissed his head one least time, before speaking.

"I'm gonna bring you some clothes, alright?"

"Sure" he responded, his voice much closer to normal than before. 

She smiled at him sadly and got out of the room. He watched as the door closed behind her and sighed, hiding his face in his hands. Why did it alway hurt so much?

He remaind on the floor until Papper came back. He then quickly stood up and put on the clothes, not paying attention to what exactly he was wearing and before she could object, walked out of the room. He needed to get out, at least for a while.

He walked through the halls, glancing out of the window every once in a while at the disaster outside. He didn't know what exactly happened here, but he figured it was Thanos, because honestly, what else could it be? He didn't want to look, but he couldn't help but think about it. What happend? Did they also screw up as bad as he did? What did Thanos want from Wakanda? Who...

His thoughts were interrupted sudenly, when he bumped into something. Someone, more specifically. Specifically, Steven Grant Rogers.

As Tony looked at his old teammate's face, he had to remind himself how to breathe to prevet the panick threatening to overwhelm him, again. Out of everyone he could possibly meet here, why him? Why Steve?

"Stark?" Captain asked, visibly suprised. "I didn't know you were awake"

"What are you doing here?" Tony demanded, tensed. He didn't know what to expect. They haven't talked in two years, after all. 

"Your job, I guess" Steve responded harshly.

"Excuse me?" The inventor looked at him, narrowing his eyes. "What's this 'job' you speek of?'

"Well" Rogers started, tooking a step closer "The Earth was attacked. Everyone else tried to stop it, yet you just disappeard. Where were you by then?"

Tony looked at him, eyes wide. Where was he? The memories of Titan returned once again. He once again saw his kid turn to dust. Peter... he clenched his jaw.

"I don't wanna talk about it" he mumbled. 

Steve must've seen the sudden change in his eyes, because he calmed down immedietly.

"Tony, what happened?" He asked, concern in his voice.

"I said, drop it!" He snapped.

The soldier looked at him, taken aback. He studied his face, befor just motionig for Tony to follow him. He lead the way through the halls and soon they found themselfs in a big room, where the rest of survivers were sitting.

Tony looked at all of his old friends and was hit by how distant they all seemed to him. Except for Rhodey, he haven't seen any of them in the past two years. But what was even worse was the fact that they all still seemed so close to each other, like there were no barrieres between them. He almost laughed at the irony of that. He was practicaly the only legal member of the team now, but at the same time, he was the only one amongst them who didn't have anyone by his side. He wanted to say he was suprsied, but he wasn't. He recalled what Cap once said about them. That they'd fall together. Bullshit. He always fell alone.

He was alone, when they tortured him in Afganistan. He was alone on the roof, when he defeated Stane. He was alone when he flied through the wormhole with a nuke. He was alone, when Wanda plented a vision in his mind in Stracker's base. He was alone, when Steve left him to death in Siberia. Finally, he was alone on Titan, when he saw his kid turn to dust.

He looked at everyone and thought about Steve's words once again. Well, he was right, actually. They did fall together, as a team. Just Tony wasn't concidered a part of it anymore.

As they stepped in, the team turned to them. As soon as they did, Natasha stood up and approached them, stopping just a few inches from Tony. She looked him right in the eyes, and before he could do anything, asked coldly.

"Where were you?"

"Nat, calm down" Bruce said from the couch. "He was..."

"I didn't ask you" she said, not even looking at him. "Where were you, Stark? What was so important that you couldn't show up when the aliens were invading the Earth, again? Where were you when we all fought with Thanos?"

"Nat, I think that's enough" Steve said, noticing how Tony's face tensed and eyes became clouded. She ignored him.

"Our friends died. They disappeared, turned to literall dust. What did you do to help? What..."

"Natasha, stop!" Steve shouted, but Tony didn't see it. His vision was complitely consumed by memories, the second time that day. He turned around to exit the room, but didn't make it to the door. Instead, he just leand onto the wall and collapsed to the floor.

"Peter..." he said unconciously.

Natasha froze in her tracks, completly taken aback. The team looked wide-eyed as he was laying, trying to catch his breath. They had absolutely no idea to what was happening, they've never seen Tony act like... like that. He almost always kept his cool and the narcisstic fasade, what could possibly happen to him to put him in that state?

The first one to recover was Rhodey. He was the onle one who knew exactly what was happening, he saw Tony dealing with anxiety before, but he never thought it would happen again. He approached his friend and begun to clam him down.

It took a while before he was able to breathe properly again. He looked around and saw their stunned expressions. He cursed under his breath. Why did he have to freak out in front of everyone? 

The room went silent. The team exchanged looks. Finally, Steve spoke up.

"Who's Peter?"

It was then when Tony Stark suprised them for the second time. He closed his eyes and before he could stop it, a single tear run down his cheek. Then came the third time.

"He's my kid."


End file.
